


And tell me how it ends, I'd do it all again.

by Adeline_Hatter



Series: Red Cracks in The Sky [2]
Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crush, F/M, Through Carmen's eyes, Wishful Thinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 12:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17642978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adeline_Hatter/pseuds/Adeline_Hatter
Summary: Carmen is not a Fool.





	And tell me how it ends, I'd do it all again.

There are still some things she’s not fully caught up on in the outside world, though there’s one thing she does know.

 

Her beating heart at his words, the way they echoed into her head and the way his eyes flickered blatantly looking her up and down...  It was new and it was so utterly, horribly _dangerous._

 

She’s had too many years however to let her composure go just because one pretty man utters some smooth words into her ears, no matter how much the look in his eyes makes her mouth go dry because this was _Gray._

 

So, she was not falling for his words, or the arch of his eyebrows, or his smile, a smile she’d usually seen directed at other people, not usually at her.

 

“If there is a next time… I promise not to make that mistake again.” He states it and her heart beats of it’s own volution, as she replies and he walks her out.

 

There was no way that her childish crush from that first year of training had had a second coming just because of a few smiles and two flirtation lines.

 

She was sure her heart was not that ridiculous, or that the universe wanted to fuck with her more with it.

 

* * *

  


When she spots him, Player’s voice in her ear is almost present, almost.

 

He senses her, he turns around and then he is, brown eyes almost lighting up upon spotting her and then he… He flirts with her.

 

_Again._

 

And she will only admit in her own head that it is just a touch maddening and then…

 

“There’s more than an entire year of my life I can’t remember.” And he keeps talking, but a whole year… _A whole year._

 

But she doesn’t let it stop as she watches him write something on a piece of paper with a pen and she takes it when he holds it out, questioning it- and she knows Player will pull it up on her later -in a less than friendly tone, she’s not even sure why.

 

She raises her eyebrows and she smiles at him, because it really is strange that somehow he hasn’t teased her in the last five minutes, his smile is too open as well, so vulnerable, so… Gray.

 

Only, this isn’t Gray, this is Graham.

 

“This, is the address to my favourite cafe,” Her heart stops at the way he says it, “I’ll be there friday night, at eight pm… You?” She makes sure it looks like she’s looking at the paper when she watches his eyes go completely soft, hopeful.

 

So she says something that gives him hope, that’s safe and even if her heart is beating she knows she won’t go back on, as it is not a promise of a date or an admittance, or agreement.

 

Though she wants to… Dear lord she wants to.

 

And then as she starts walking away-

 

“Hey! I never got your name!”   
  
Maybe there’s a chance, this time, to do it right, to do it with nothing in the way, no evil organisation… No old name.

 

“It’s Carmen!” She calls out behind her, and she almost swears she hears him call her something as he laughs.

 

Her heart is still beating, she hopes rather uselessly that Player does not mention it.

 

* * *

  
  


She’s not a fool.

 

Sometimes, she was a little naive.

 

Carmen was not a fool, how could she be after growing up where she did, to be foolish was to die, to be foolish was to let people throw you and use you until you were no longer of use.

 

She was not stupid, she was not oblivious either on most things, she was not a _Fool._

 

But gods, he made her want to be foolish.

 

Stood there, for the brief glimpse that she got, she could almost let herself be foolish and believe there was hope.

 

It’s here she thanks the powers that be for Player, her voice of reason, her reality check.

 

But she wants to ignore him.

 

She wanted to walk across that street, say hello, flirt a bit, smile some more, stop lying to herself and just smile, be herself around someone she used to trust.

 

Carmen lies in her bed in her hotel room, looking up at the ceiling, listening to the quiet of the nightlife outside, the city still alive.

 

She’s not a fool.

 

Because, there’s one thing she has never admitted to anyone, not even to herself, hadn’t let herself admit because it was the one thing that she holds so close she can’t see it.

 

Until there he was again, smiling and laughing, flirting like he used to, but this time he didn’t remember her so it wasn’t a joke, or a teasing gesture… It was real and she can’t help but ask herself if it’s been real all this time.

 

Her head hurts, she’s tired but she can’t stop seeing his smiles, every single one from the first time he walked into the dorm room to the last one, across the street.

 

Carmen finds herself craving the foolish, craving the closeness that they’d shared and the warmth in her chest at a single look in his eyes that never seemed to fade.

 

She misses Gray.

 

She wants him back.

 

But she can never have him back.

 

Because, Carmen is no fool.

 

And she is most certainly not a fool in love.


End file.
